The Great Incident of Stark Towers
by KaramelleKustard
Summary: It has been 1 and a half years since the battle of New York, and the Avengers are all living under one roof: Stark Towers. Things have been running smoothly so far, but tensions are rising and trouble is brewing; the safety of Stark Towers can no longer be guaranteed. But what is the Great Incident of Stark Towers? Well you'll have to read to find out! Rated T for mild swearing.
1. Chapter 1

**-Author's Note-**

**Hi there! This is my first Avengers fanfiction, (my first EVER fanfiction to be precise) and I'm really looking forward to it! This piece is written from Natasha's POV, but will change with every chapter, so you get a little bit of everyone's feelings and what's going on! I won't waffle too much here, but I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers (Idk everyone does something witty here but I don't have anything so... Please just read it ok thanks)**

-Chapter 1-

It was a bleak and frosty January morning when I returned to Stark Towers. I had just completed another mission; it was about average. The fighting was mediocre and the decapitation was tedious at best, but at least it was another mission complete. I pulled my coat up round my ears as I approached the entrance to my accommodation.

It'd been just over a year since the battle of New York, and not much interesting that happened since. We had all moved into the Stark Towers to make it easier for SHIELD to locate us when they needed to (even Thor dropped by from time to time when he wasn't in Asgard) and things were running smoothly, aside from the occasional squabble or fight.

I reached the large doors to Stark Towers, and stood patiently, waiting. "Good morning Ms Romanoff." Jarvis chimed as I scanned my keycard. The doors opened to reveal a grand entrance hall.  
"Thank you Jarvis." I replied politely; it never once occurred to me that I was, in fact, talking to a machine. I headed straight for the elevator. I had only been away two weeks but I was missing everyone at Stark Towers like crazy, even Stark himself. We were all like family now, and although I would never admit it, I loved them all like siblings, and if something ever happened to one of them... I don't know what we'd do.

"Sixteenth floor." Jarvis announced, before I stepped out of the elevator. As my heels clicked along the polished wooden floor, numerous heads of my companions snapped up. The first one I could see was Clint, and there was another thing that I couldn't bear to admit. Clint and I were best friends, but sometimes wondered whether we were, I don't know, more than that? It was a silly thought to have, so I quickly brushed it away, and walked up briskly to meet him.  
"Hey Tashy," he greeted me warmly and he pulled me in for a welcoming hug.  
"Have I missed anything much?" I asked, stepping away as we came out of the embrace. Clint shook his head.  
"Thor's skipped off to Assbutt again or wherever he goes, but apart from that, nothing muc..."

"What do you mean HACKED?!" Tony stormed through into the lounge area that we were in, causing us to whip our heads round in confusion.  
"Wha..." Bruce began to ask, lifting his head from his laptop and putting his glasses up onto his head.  
"It appears to be a group called the Rising Tide; they're a group of hackers, or 'hactivists' as they prefer to be called." Jarvis explained.  
"Anyone got anything on the 'Rising Tide'?" Tony asked.  
I shook my head - I'd never heard of them. But Clint obviously had.

He was silent, and that didn't happen often; it only happened when he was thinking, and that also didn't occur often.

"They're pretty good," Bruce said, sliding his glasses back onto his nose and tapping away at his laptop. "I can't find anything on them."  
"It seems like no one knows anything about then!" Tony threw his hands in the air in frustration.

"I do." Clint said solemnly from beside me. Everyone turned to stare at him. "A woman named Katherine Heradez. Works for the Rising Tide."

Silence.

"How do know that?" I quizzed, but he shook his head.  
"That's not important."  
I frowned; this wasn't Clint's usual tone. I shrugged it off, he'd never stay this way for long.

"Well I suggest the first thing we do is find out where this woman is and pay her a visit, maybe that way we'll learn something useful about these people." Stark finally said. Almost immediately after he'd finished, Jarvis spoke.  
"Sir, there appears to be an intruder."  
I whipped round to watch in horror as the elevator quickly climbed the floors until it reached the sixteenth. I held my breath in anticipation as the doors open, to reveal a figure.

"I thought I'd save you the trouble of finding me."

**-Author's Note-**

**What do you think? Seriously I'd love to know so pleeease review! It means so much to me that you've actually bothered to read this! Thanks!**

**Ok so next chapter should be up tomorrow (I'll and update this daily, apart from Sunday which is where I'll try and catch up with writing!) and it will be from Tony's POV.**

**Ok, seeya tomorrow! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**-Author's note-**

**Thank you SO MUCH for the follows, favourites and reviews! Rest assured they made my day! So, as promised, here is the second chapter! **

**Disclaimer; I don't own the avengers, but you already knew that...**

-Chapter 2-

"You are... so dead." I said plainly, as I watched the woman walk towards me and my colleagues.  
"Mr Stark, it's a pleasure," the woman held out a pale, slender hand. I did not take it and she swiftly retracted her arm.  
"I'm sure you know me? Katherine Heradez, I work for the Rising Tide." She paused, sweeping her eyes over every one of the team. "But you already knew that." Her eyes settled on Clint.  
"Ah, Agent Barton, how lovely to see you again." Her melodic voice was so calm and yet so full of poison. I glanced over at Clint, who was sat with his arms folded and a scowl on his face.

"What do you want from us?" Natasha hurriedly broke the silence. She looked more agitated than I'd seen her in a while; obviously something to do with the way their visitor spoke to Clint. Maybe she thought the rest of the team wouldn't notice, but even I realised, that her and Clint were clearly in love. And whether they were either too blind or too stubborn for either of them to admit it, the team and I had secretly agreed behind their backs that we had to hook them up sometime.

It seemed our plans would have to be put on hold.

"What do I want from you?" Heradez repeated Natasha's question, "Well, dear girl. What I want from you is simple; I want to destroy you."

My eyes widened in panic, as a gentle ticking noise started up from the corner of the room.  
"BOMB!" I heard Natasha shout, but that was the last thing I heard before everything went black.

I groaned as I blinked myself awake, before realising the event that had just taken place. I tried to sit bolt upright, and check if everyone was ok, but in doing so, I felt my chest slam into some sort of barricade. Whatever it was exactly didn't matter to me; I just needed to check that all my comrades, no, friends were alive. I couldn't bear to think if...  
"No." I thought aloud as I tried to wriggle my way out of my current predication. The task was easier said than done; the bomb had strewn a lot of things about the place and, as far as I could tell, the ceiling from the floor above had collapsed as well, spilling the contents of one of my favourite labs onto the floor we were currently on. I freed my legs and climbed atop the rubble, searching for the others.  
"Shit," I muttered quietly to myself, "This would be a lot easier if Thor and Capsicle were here." Then again, I thought, it would be two more bodies to search for.

But as soon as the words had left my mouth, none other than the Norse God himself appeared at the doorway.  
"Man of Iron." He proclaimed loudly, in his usual manner, "What in the Nine Realms happened here?"  
"I don't know." I realised I was actually breathing heavily, part from the struggle of getting myself free, part from the worry about my friends, "There was a bomb and.. Look, Bruce, Clint and Tasha are still in there somewhere; we gotta look for them." I said, returning to searching through the pile of science equipment and stoves and god knows what else, in hope that I could find my friends.

"Over here!" A voice called, and I turned see an arm, clad in a shredded purple shirt, waving frantically in the air. Bruce.  
"Thor!" I called, and the warrior followed me over to the scientist. He looked ok, but his leg was trapped under something, which Thor then lifted with ease. It looked like Bruce had caught the least of the blast.  
"You ok?" I asked, desperate to get back to finding the other two. Bruce simply nodded, then hobbled out of the way.

I carried on searching for ages, but with no luck. Just when I was giving up hope of ever seeing my friends again, a call came from Thor.  
"Man of Iron!" He cried, "I believe I have found something." I raced over and followed the Norse God's gaze; a leg.  
"Well done." I said, almost reverting back to my usual snarky tone, "You found a leg. You wanna see if there's a body attached to that?" Thor started clearing the rubble that lay on top of the leg. I could tell from the leg that this wasn't a woman; this was Barton. I helped Thor with what I could, slowly revealing a face. Low and behold, it was Clint, but his eyes were closed and there were gashes all over his face and body.  
"Pull him out." I ordered, and Thor complied, hoisting him up and setting him down on the ground nearby.  
"He's unconscious." I stated, "See if Bruce can do anything with him; I've got to keep going.

2 down, 1 to go.

I went to deploy the Iron suit, if Natasha was in there she'd be buried deep under all the rubble, but an icy voice stopped me.  
"I wouldn't bother if I were you." A certain Katherine Heradez was standing in the doorway, after escaping her own blast. "She's not in there."

I felt anger boiling up inside me. It was a good job Barton was unconscious; he would've gone ballistic. I myself was none too pleased.  
"What have you done with her?" My voice shook slightly; Natasha was like family, and if they tried to do anything to her...  
"We've taken her." Heradez stated plainly, "We call it 'gathering intel'"

"Where. Is. She." A figure emerged from behind her; a blonde, tall, muscly figure.  
"Ah, Captain Rogers," She greeted him coldly without turning round, "What a pleasure it is to meet you."  
"The pleasure is all mine." Steve said, and with that, he swung a punch at Heradez's face. It hit her square on, but she did not fall with the punch. She merely laughed, and then, to mine and the other's amazement, vanished with a shimmer of green.

"Loki." Thor muttered, then his face contorted with a mixture of confusion and rage.

"LOKI!"

Mostly rage.

**-Author's Note-**

**Ooh - drama! So what did you guys think? As I've said, I love hearing from you guys so please review, and fav & follow if you liked it! Next chapter may be out tomorrow (Sunday) but if not then definitely Monday! And next chapter will be written from Clint's POV.**

**And yes, there will definitely be a AoS crossover, and I'll make sure to include Skyeward and FitzSimmons for you, Rachael Swiftie! And also massive hugs and cookies to SandieBrody for reviewing and those who followed and favourited! Also, while I'm at it, go check out my friend cieraturton. She's got an amazing Supernatural fanfic up! Go read it! Seeya tomorrow!**


	3. Chapter 3

**-Author's Note-**

**Hey guys! Thank you so much for the dedicated reviewers, followers and whatnot! I'm so glad you guys like it! So here you go, Clint's point of view!**

-Chapter 3-  
Ow.

Owww.

Why did my head hurt so much? Surely I hadn't drunk that much last night? And why was my bed so uncomfortable? I blinked open my eyes, only to be confronted not with the beige coloured ceiling of my bedroom, but rather a white one. From what I could see, there were cracks running along ceiling, but the corners of my vision were clouded, and I could not see where the cracks led next. As much as it hurt, I turned my head slightly to the left, revealing the part of the ceiling which had caved in, and I just caught a glimpse of the pile of rubble which had amounted underneath. Must've happened when the bomb exploded, I thought.

The bomb.

My memory flooded back to me, and I suddenly scrambled to my feet, causing a surge of pain to rush through my body. I had to find Natasha. I had to make sure she was ok, for as much as I was close to the rest of the team, Tash was my top priority, and always would be. I swayed with dizziness as I got to my feet and groaned; I don't know what hit me but it fucking hurt. I suddenly felt someone behind me, steadying me. Why this made me so angry I don't know. I suppose it was the feeling of weakness, the feeling of helplessness and the feeling of not being in control - the last time I had felt this way was when that asshole Loki came to try and take over the world and turned me into one of his personal henchmen.

I whipped myself round to find myself face to face with none other than Dr Bruce Banner.  
"You okay?" He asked me, "You've been out for a while."  
"Shit." I cursed, "Are _you_ ok?" I asked him back raising an eyebrow. "I'm sorta hoping green giant ain't gonna make an appearance." He shrugged.  
"I'm ok." He replied casually, as though the other guy didn't exist.  
"Where's Natasha?" I asked, trying to keep my voice from sounding overly anxious. Our conversation was rudely interrupted by Stark.  
"Hey Legolas, you're awake." He walked over, carrying two glasses of whiskey. He took a swig from the first then offered the second one to me, which I accepted graciously.  
"So Point Break and Capsicle are back, you may've guessed." He sounded more relaxed, which I guessed he owed to the whiskey.  
"And, well, Natasha's gone on a little road trip."

I felt my muscles tensing, suddenly all the pain that I had felt melted away in my anxiety.  
"What do you mean, _road trip?_" I asked, a certain edge to my voice.  
"Well, our Rising Tide friend, Katherine Heradez, has kinda, how to I put this, kidnapped her." He was a little drunk, and made it all sound so normal, which made it all the worse.  
"Kidnapped." My voice was shaking now, "KIDNAPPED?" I roared. I turned and started punching the wall. There was no purpose to it, I know, but I had to vent my anger somehow, and I didn't want to hurt anyone. How could they let her be kidnapped? My very best friend, gone, just like that. I punched the wall, over and over until my fists started bleeding, but even then I didn't stop. I didn't know where Natasha was. I'd lost her for a time in New York, and I swore that I would never lose her again. I promised her. And now that just looked like a bunch of bullshit because look what happened - I'd let some shitty group of hackers come and snatch her from under my nose.

"You might want to stop that, Agent Barton."

Coulson.

We'd all been told after the event that Coulson was in fact alive, but none of us had ever seen him in person since the battle. I brought my fists down from the blood stained wall and examined them. Blood streamed down the side of my knuckles and I couldn't actually move two of my fingers. I turned to face Coulson, who seemed to have a team who stood behind him. I knew he was right; what use would I be to Natasha if I couldn't actually fight? I dropped my hands to my side, defeated.

I couldn't save her from being taken, but I could still go and get her.

If she wasn't already dead.

**-Author's Note-**

**So what do you think guys? This was a pretty angsty chapter for Clint, and I enjoyed writing it! Please leave a review if you liked it!(Or if you didn't like it, let me know how I can improve!) Next chapter should be up tomorrow from Steve's POV, and there will be even more with AoS! Ok, seeya!**


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